You are using an outdated browser that is not supported by GeoNode.

Information for Developers

Useful information for developers interested in GeoNode.

GeoNode is an open service built on open source software. We encourage you to build new applications using the components and resources it provides. This page is a starting point for developers interesting in taking full advantage of GeoNode. It also includes links to the project's source code so anyone can build and customize their own GeoNode.

GeoNode Software

GeoNode is built using several open source projects, each with its own community. If you are interested in contributing new features to the GeoNode, we encourage you to do so by contributing to one of the projects on which it is built:

What are OGC Services?

The data in this application is served using open standards endorsed by the Open Geospatial Consortium; in particular, WMS (Web Map Service) is used for accessing maps, WFS (Web Feature Service) is used for accessing vector data, and WCS (Web Coverage Service) is used for accessing raster data. WMC (Web Map Context Documents) is used for sharing maps. You can use these services in your own applications using libraries such as OpenLayers, GeoTools, and OGR (all of which are open-source software and available at zero cost).

What is GeoWebCache?

GeoWebCache provides mapping tiles that are compatible with a number of mapping engines, including Google Maps, Bing Maps and OpenLayers. All the data hosted by GeoNode is also available through GeoWebCache. GeoWebCache improves on WMS by caching data and providing more responsive maps.

CSW Example Code

To interact with GeoNode's CSW you can use any CSW client (QGIS MetaSearch, GRASS, etc.). The following example illustrates a simple invocation using the OWSLib Python package:

OpenLayers Example Code

To include a GeoNode map layer in an OpenLayers map, first find the name for that layer. This is found in the layer's name field (not title) of the layer list. For this example, we will use the Nicaraguan political boundaries background layer, whose name is risk:nicaragua_admin. Then, create an instance of OpenLayers.Layer.WMS:

Changing output format to json, GML2, GML3, or csv will get data in those formats. The WFS protocol also can handle more precise queries, specifying a bounding box or various spatial and non-spatial filters based on the attributes of the data.

GeoTools Example Code

Create a DataStore and extract a FeatureType from it, then run a Query. It is all documented on the wiki at http://geotools.org/.